


Super Cat Tales 2: Captain Malbern's Tale

by Ark-1-Medes (Just_Fandom_Trash), Just_Fandom_Trash



Category: Super Cat Tales
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-16 06:07:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21031481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Fandom_Trash/pseuds/Ark-1-Medes, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Fandom_Trash/pseuds/Just_Fandom_Trash
Summary: This story is just an experiment of mine to see if I can still write like I used to.In terms of what it's actually about, this is a story that takes place parallel to the main story of a game called "Super Cat Tales 2," where a small group of cats has to keep a crystal keeping the planet in balance away from an army of robots known as the Tin Army.This parallel story follows a cat called Malbern, a pirate cat that has his sights set on the Tin Army for the fame and riches that could come his way if he eliminates them.





	1. Grasslands and Cities

It was a beautiful day outside in the grasslands. The wind was rustling the leaves of the trees, the temperature was perfect, and there was a large wooden ship cruising down a river. A large wooden ship that no one had seen there before... strange. Aboard that ship was what appeared to be a Burmese cat with a large brown patch on the lower half of his face resembling a beard, and a hook at the tip of his tail, sorting through a chest of golden coins. The cat was chuckling to himself.

"Nyar har har... another fine day for my fine work!" The cat tossed one coin up and down in his paw, sitting down beside the chest. "I've almost looted double of what I usually get in a day! This river has to be lucky, and the winds must be in my favor this noon-" The cat's gloating to himself was soon cut short by the sound of something combusting and crashing in a nearby hill. With a slight bit of a startled squeak, he looked up from his treasure to see where the noise came from; a massive, metal airship just crash-landed on top of a hill. The cat gave a curious stare for a couple moments and looked up at the sky, weighing his options. If he did go to investigate, there was a chance his ship could get stolen, and there was an equally good chance that whatever crashed might be hostile... but there was also a decent chance that the ship has an amount of gold that he had never even seen before, or some other relic. Riches that have been unheard of for years. With nothing else to do, the cat plucked up his cutlass from the floor, set it in the sheath on his side, and guided his ship to rest on the shore of the river he was going down, leaping off the ship and beginning to run towards the scene.

What he didn't realize was how far from the situation he actually was. He ran for a while, but it didn't feel like he was getting any closer. That, and there was rocky, hilly terrain around the river he was sailing down, so navigating it was slightly more cumbersome than he was expecting. He was semi-decent at swimming, but climbing wasn't quite his forte. Without even realizing it, he had gotten himself into quite a pickle, too; he was confident in his swordplay, but there were creatures everywhere that were more than happy to get in his way. Strangely enough, the frogs, turnips, and even what appeared to be flying chunks of pollen proved to be a threat. Regardless, he bit into the handle of his cutlass and drew it, ready to hack and slash away at anything that got too close. He even had a rope tied to the hilt's guard so he could toss his blade and climb the rope, in essence having a makeshift grappling hook. It didn't take him too long until he got to the area around the hills where the ship had crashed, and things didn't really get much better. In fact, due to the shift in terrain, it only got worse. However, there wasn't much that could pose a threat to him other than falling, anymore, which was a plus. Eventually, he got to the hill, and what he saw upon peeking over intrigued him.

What he saw was a large cluster of small tin soldiers, crowding around the smoldering remains of their crashed ship. A whole fleet of ships flew overhead, and one began to descend, and one of the larger soldiers appeared to be holding another, knocked-out cat in their arms. it was at this point that the cat began to get confused and slightly worried. He was confident, but not confident enough to take on an entire army with flying metal ships. Attempting to remain silent, he sheathed his cutlass and began to walk back down the hill... only for two of the tin soldiers to peek over the hill and spot him. The both of them shouted;

"_Commander Gorudo!_ We missed a cat! What are our orders?"

Another, deeper voice boomed back: "What do you _think_ your orders are? Get them!" Then, upon those orders, a whole horde of tin soldiers began charging for the cat. He bit into the grip of his cutlass and drew it once again, ready to fight off the first few that came for him, slashing at them wildly... before spotting the rest coming over the hill at him. Knowing he didn't stand a chance, his best idea was to run, and run he did. He used his cutlass to grapple across the hills, swinging from the trees, and even using the hook on his tail to swing around branches. Due to how quickly he swung around, he quickly outran the Tin Army and lost them. The problem was, he also got himself lost. Upon looking around, he realized he had no idea where he even was. His tail flicked back and forth, and he rolled his eyes, sheathing his cutlass once more and sighing.

"_Nyarrrgh... _this is a fine situation I've gotten meself into..." He sighed once again, before looking back upwards at the sky and grinning. "Not to fear! Malbern always pulls through in the end! I'll find me ship again, mark me words!" He gave off his signature hearty laugh, before looking around. "...Nyar, I've just realized I've not a compass on me... or a map... or a sense of direction... err..." He looked towards the east. "...Well, if I remember correctly, I went west to get to the hill, so east it is!" He began to eagerly move to the east... before looking up, and realizing that the massive squadron of tin ships was also moving east. Getting slightly afraid at this point, he quickened his pace, and began to semi-frequently look over his shoulder to see if any of the tin soldiers were behind him. Eventually, the pressure began to get to his head, so once he was back at the rocky terrain near the river, he sat beneath an overhang and thought about what was happening for a minute.

Tin soldiers overhead... they could probably see him if they looked down, and there's at least a few that saw him that could likely recognize him from the encounter at the hill. If they see him near his ship, or if they see his ship at all, he's as good as captured, or worse. He thought about it a little more, and decided that maybe it would be a good idea to make a run for the nearest town or village to take cover in for a while. He took a deep breath, peeked out of the overhang, and began his trek further east. The good news was, due to the amount of time he spent hiding in that overpass, a good chunk of the tin ships had already passed by his location, so as long as he took his time, he wouldn't catch up to them and end up being caught. After a bit more of going east, he encountered what appeared to be a large, bustling city by the name of "Hikari City." It definitely had a couple good hiding spots, so in he went.

Roaming the city for a while, he eventually went deeper into the city and towards some of the lesser-visited portions of the city. There were a couple wanted posters set up in the almost desolate-seeming area for a Maine Coon cat by the name of "Mainya," or "May," who was apparently a thief. Some defining traits were a black scarf, dark gray rings around her eyes, and dark gray horizontal stripes running along her back. There was a gold bounty on her. Malbern, instantly drawn in by the promise of gold, grabbed one of the posters and tucked it beside his cutlass' sheath. He knew that finding a thief in a large city would be no easy task, so he sat down in an alleyway to think about it for a while.

"Nyarr... if I were a thief, where would I be..." He scratched himself behind his ear for a moment, before taking a good look around himself. Dark alleyways... perfect atmosphere for sneaking... thieves are sneaky... he began to put two and two together, realizing that the thief likely wasn't even too far from where he already was. He picked himself up off the ground, and began to roam, climbing up buildings by jumping between the close walls of the alleyways, and got onto the rooftops. He jumped from building to building, looking down at the streets and alleyways for a couple minutes, before coming up at a dead end near what appeared to be a power plant. However, the power plant wasn't all that was waiting for him; down in an alleyway extremely close to this power plant, he spotted the Maine Coon. If he jumped down, he'd be able to corner her. He carefully slid down the wall, before leaping down and just barely sticking the landing without falling over.

"_Hssss-!_" Mainya turned around and hissed, startled by the sudden appearance of Malbern. "What's this? Another cat, come to claim the thief out of justice?"

"Justice?" Malbern just barely held back chuckles. "Don't make me laugh! I'm just after the gold, like you! Now turn yourself over, and things won't have to get messy!" Malbern got a cocky grin on his face as he unsheathed his cutlass, once again gripping it in his mouth.

Mainya rolled her eyes, adjusting her scarf with one paw. "You _must_ be of the gullible type if you expect me to surrender that easy... though, I haven't had a good duel in ages, so... have at you!" Mainya climbed up one of the walls, before jumping off and attempting to pounce Malbern, who quickly dodged forwards. Looking behind himself, he saw Mainya about to lunge to swipe at him with her claws, so he kept running forward and ran up the opposing wall that Mainya was originally cornered against, jumping off of it as Mainya just barely missed striking him. He landed behind Mainya, and attempted to strike with his cutlass' pommel, and Mainya just barely managed to duck in time. She tried to strike with her claws directly, but Malbern retaliated by flicking his tail forwards, the hook he wore at the end catching Mainya's paw so Malbern could shove her backwards against the wall. He then tried to strike her forehead with the pommel of his cutlass again, but Mainya barely dodged to the side in time, climbing up the walls again and beginning to jump between them, trying to throw Malbern off so he couldn't predict where she was going to strike from. Malbern backed up, bracing himself for a strike. And then, Mainya dropped from above Malbern, trying to swipe at him from his left. Malbern ducked, and caught one of Mainya's hind paws with his tail hook, tossing her against the wall she would have been up against anyway if she missed the attack. However, this move wasn't without consequence, though, as Malbern got a bad cut on his left. Not wasting any time, he struck her in the chest with the guard of his cutlass' grip, knocking the wind out of her. He put the blade of his cutlass to her chest, staring her in the eyes.

Mainya coughed, groaning. "_Hsss..._ alright. You got me. Just get it over with already and take the gold..." Mainya closed her eyes, ready for whatever fate Malbern had in store for her as his cutlass was right up against her chest, but... the cold feeling against her chest disappeared. She opened one eye curiously, and Malbern was sheathing his blade. One eye was closed, and he was wincing a little bit in pain from the strike, but he was still smiling at Mainya.

"...Yeh know what...?" Malbern quietly chuckled. "You put up... a good fight..! You aren't like anyone else around here, are yeh...?" Malbern was breathing heavily, and his speech was a tiny bit slurred. "What if... we teamed up, you 'n I...?"

Mainya quirked an eyebrow at this offer. She seemed slightly confused. "...You go from wanting to turn me in for the gold that was placed on my head, to wanting me to join you just for the fact that I'm talented in what I do, despite the fact I lost to you..? You're... really of the strange type. And yet, the offer you raise is an interesting one..." She raised one paw, and, albeit hesitantly, let Malbern help her up. She sighed. "...I know you probably saw or heard my name, considering you came after me for gold, but... just call me May, please."

"If we're doing nicknames, yeh can call me Malbern or Captain Tailblade... I do have a ship, but, not quite a crew, so I don't know if it's... accurate to call me a captain yet... but, I'll have one someday!" He was still grinning, and the pain seemed to be slowly melting off his expression.

May chuckled. She felt an overall good energy coming from Malbern, especially considering he just spared her life not even two minutes ago, and was offering her company and assistance. However, she still didn't trust Malbern much at all. She saw him as a gullible, but tough loose cannon. "Well, as long as you don't get in my way too much, we'll be fine. Now... err... what's to do now-" Before she could even finish her sentence, her ears perked up and her eyes widened as she saw a truck zoom right past the alleyway the two of them were in. From the looks of things, it belonged to the tin army. Malbern noticed too, and a feeling of dread washed over him for a moment. However, when he looked at May, he got an idea.

"...Say..." He moved the sash that held his cutlass' sheath down to cover up the wound, so it would heal a little faster. "If there's two of us... and you're such a good sneak... I think we might be able to take on those tin cans. Whaddaya say?" He still had a grin on his face, which slightly faded away when he noticed May's confused expression.

"Tin cans? Are you talking about that massive army that showed up recently? From what I know, they're making an attempt to take over the power plant as we speak... that's why I came here to begin with, to see what they were up to. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to get back on my original objective... come." May sighed, leaping between the walls of the buildings and beckoning for Malbern to follow, which he did. They peeked over a fence, and managed to catch the truck leaving again, along with another small group of cats making their way into the power plant.

"...Those two don't look familiar... I think it's for the best if we avoid them." May commented, leaping over the fence from the roof of the building they were on, and began to look around. Tin soldiers were roaming everywhere, and Malbern was right behind her, already with his cutlass in his mouth to fend off any of them if they happened to notice them or raise an alarm. May used her tail to beckon for Malbern to follow her lead again, and he did, making sure to be careful to not make too much noise or accidentally hit anything with his cutlass.

May was looking around for anything of worth. She and Malbern had picked up a couple of gold coins, but other than that, there was nothing of use to them. Not even any papers with information on what the Tin Army might even be there for. And then, Malbern looked up at one of the buildings, sheathing his cutlass. "...Psst... hey, May... I think this is more than just a power plant..." He pointed up at the building, which appeared to be a factory. May's heart sank a little bit.

She looked around nervously, tapping one paw against the ground anxiously. "That's not good... we should probably get out of here, fast... you said you have a ship, right? Where is it?" She gave Malbern a worried look, but Malbern had a comforting smile on his face.

Malbern sighed, patting May on the back. "Don't worry too much... All we have to do is go west until we hit the river, and follow it until we find where I left my ship... now, we should sneak out of here before we're spotted." Malbern decided to take charge this time, looking around for any easy escape routes... the only problem was, there weren't any easy escape routes. Going back where they came from wouldn't do any good, because there were too many tin soldiers at that point. Going into the factory would mean they have a death wish. The only idea he had was to try to grapple onto a street lamp that was just past one of the fences so they could escape and make a run for it. "...May, hold on tight." He extended one paw to her, and she used both of her front paws to cling on. He bit into his cutlass's grip again, and tossed it for the street lamp. He hit it... but not where he intended to. The glass shattered, making it known to everyone they were making a run for it. Malbern quickly began climbing, hauling May up with him, as tin soldiers began to close in on them. They just barely made it over the fence and escaped in time, allowing Malbern to pull his cutlass out of the street lamp and drop down with May. The two of them ran away, as a commander with a blue cape and sunglasses looked on at the fleeing cats silently.

And so, the two ran from Hikari City, all the way back to the river where Malbern left his ship. Surprisingly enough, it was still safe and sound. No tin soldiers nearby or anything. Everything felt quiet... too quiet. May took note of that, but Malbern didn't seem to notice nor care at all, pushing his ship back into the river with the help of May and barely managing to turn it around and begin moving upstream, setting sail for the ocean past Hikari City.

"So... where are we going, exactly?" May asked, tapping Malbern on the shoulder.

Malbern let go of the wheel for a second to speak. "We're going to the Coconut Islands. Assuming the Tin Army continues to head east, we can cut them off there. Sounds like a bad idea, but we have a ship with cannons now!" Malbern gave off another one of his signature laughs, before re-taking the wheel and steering the ship down the river. May nodded and sighed, lying down. The ride through the river was bumpy, but eventually, they made it out to the shore... and May saw something big moving in the water. Malbern had his guard down at first, but once he heard explosions coming from the power plant behind them, he realized he should probably be at the very least a little cautious. And then, something rammed into the ship from the starboard side, shaking the entire ship. May clung to the floor, and Malbern clung to the wheel, causing the ship to swerve and turn uncontrollably. "Big Fin-!!" Malbern cried out. "I knew those old sea tales were true!" The giant blue fish jumped out of the water and over the ship, letting out a loud roar as it splashed down on the other side, water droplets raining down on the ship. Malbern stuck his cutlass through the ship's wheel and into the stand behind it, to keep the ship going straight ahead.

"May!" Malbern shouted, as if he was a sergeant barking orders to his troops. "There's cannons below the deck! Five on each side, they should have ammo! Shoot at the fish when I give the word, I'll stay up here to keep it distracted!" Malbern jumped down onto the main deck of the ship, looking out at the one fin slicing through the surface of the water, following the ship. May seemed skeptical at first.

"Are you sure this will work? I don't think I can aim a cannon that well-"

"Just _do it!_" Malbern interrupted May, more than confident that his plan would work. May sighed, rushing down below the deck. Malbern hissed, peeking over the port side of the ship. "Bring it on, big blue!!" He shouted, in an attempt to taunt Big Fin. The fish was already hostile enough, though, so the taunt wasn't even necessary. It began to circle the ship. Malbern kept his eyes and ears open, knowing that when he heard it dive beneath the water completely, it would be an opportune moment to fire. He saw the top fin disappear beneath the water on the ship's port side. "Fire! _Now!!_"

Right after Malbern gave the orders for May to fire, Big Fin lunged up out of the water, attempting to slam down onto the ship. However, May actually obeyed Malbern's orders, and fired the middle cannon on the port side. Big Fin was hit square in the stomach and knocked back, letting out what sounded like a roar of pain and fury. May, still below deck, looked surprised that the plan was working at all so far. However, Big Fin wasn't about to give up on these two yet. It began to jump up and splash down in the water around the ship unpredictably, water droplets and small urchins raining down around Malbern. He just barely avoided everything, before barely noticing Big Fin sinking down and preparing to strike from the starboard side. "May! Switch sides and fire!!"

May was getting a bit more confident in Malbern's plan, so she quickly ran across the ship and lit the fuse on the center cannon of the starboard side. Just like last time, Big Fin lunged, but the cannon fired right into its trajectory, and the fish was knocked back down into the ocean with another roar of sheer rage. Malbern began to freak out a little bit, as he had no idea what the fish was going to pull next. However, he could see the islands in the distance. They were almost there, they just had to hold out a little longer... however, Big Fin was getting serious now. More urchin and water-pellet splashing from both sides, but this time, with each lunge over the ship, Big Fin dropped urchins down itself, actively aiming for Malbern. He had to keep his wits about him, dodging and diving past each and every projectile thrown at him, before noticing Big Fin sinking down beneath the water on the ship's port side again. "May! It's on the other side again! Run and fire! Now's our chance to end this!!"

Barely keeping pace with Malbern's orders at this point, May ran, struck a match, and lit the fuse of another cannon on the port side with ammunition in it. And then, with that one last strike to its face, Big Fin finally gave in. It roared in defeat, turning tail and retreating to go attack some other ship with less defenses. May, upon hearing everything outside go quiet, came back up onto the deck to check on Malbern. He was on the ground, panting and exhausted, but otherwise fine. She helped him up, much like how he helped her, and he got back to the wheel, setting sail for the Coconut Islands, as a fleet of flying tin ships loomed over them in the distance...


	2. Home Turf

After the harsh brawl with Big Fin, Malbern took the ship off of auto-pilot for a while and closed the sails, leaving himself and May to drift idly in the ocean for a while to catch their breath. May was lying down with her eyes closed, and Malbern was lying beside her. Malbern, instead of having his cutlass sheathed, stabbed it into the wood beside him for a while. "So... I know you said we're going to the Coconut Islands to cut off the Tin Army halfway to their destination of... wherever east they're going, but... that's not the real reason, is it? I know from that look in your eyes when the fish showed up that there has to be something more... this ain't a trick, is it?" May opened one eye to give Malbern a bit of a glare.

"What? Of course this isn't a trick! I might be a pirate, but I'm not _that_ dirty!" He huffed, somewhat offended that May thought he'd trick the one person in a long time that he's seen as a friend. "And... well... okay, _maybe_ the Coconut Islands have a bit of underlying importance to me, but... nyargh, you'll see when we get there, okay?" He sighed, looking down at the floor as if he felt remorseful about something. "Let's just... relax for a couple minutes longer, and then I'll put some wind in the sails and we can dock, aye..?" Malbern mustered up enough energy to grin, trying to assure May that there was nothing to fear this far out.

May opened both eyes and cocked her head to the side slightly as Malbern spoke. She could tell that whatever he was talking about must have been a touchy subject to him, and she felt a bit bad about being so quick to make an assumption about him. She quietly sighed, and patted him on the shoulder. "Okay, okay... I see... we'll stop for a while there. In fact, after all the hectic madness back there with the tin cans and the giant fish, a break on a secluded island doesn't sound like much of a bad idea at all..." It was hard to notice, but she was subtly smiling. However, as she looked up at the sky and noticed the tin ships heading further east and about to pass over them, that smile quickly faded. "Uhh... by the way, Malbern... there's something I'd like to mention..."

"Nyarh? What is it, May?" Malbern calmed down from his previous riled-up state rather quickly. He got up and stretched, letting out an almost silent yawn before looking down at May with a bit of a curious gaze.

May, meanwhile, just sighed. "While we were getting on the ship, I could swear I... saw something, looking at us from one of the rock formations. It looked like a cat, but all I could tell about it was its piercing, bright orange eyes. We stared at each other for a whole couple seconds, before they turned tail and just... vanished off the side of the rocks." May shuddered, getting up and staring up at the tin ships. "It honestly... scared me a little bit. And I'm usually the one that gets startled last." She looked back at Malbern, who just started grinning again.

"Bah, don't worry about some creepy cat, May! They were probably just envious of this amazing ship, and wanted to take it for themselves the moment before we showed up!" He laughed, nudging May playfully. "Now, come on, let's-..." He finally looked up at the shadows passing over them. "...Oh. We have bigger problems than a creepy cat. Let me just..." He picked up his cutlass in his mouth, sheathed it again, and rushed for the ship controls. May looked around nervously, hoping no tin soldiers would try to get the drop on them. Thankfully, Malbern took control of the ship and set sail for the Coconut Islands without anything coming from above or below to attack them. However, instead of the main set of islands that seemed to be almost connected to the mainland, Malbern swerved towards the south, taking a different route towards a large, southern island that no one ever really pays much attention to or visits.

May got a bit nervous once again, but from the conversation she just had with Malbern, she knew he had a plan in the end. So, she went with it, staying silent as Malbern pulled up his ship beside the beach of a large, somewhat forested island and dropped the ship's anchor, jumping off onto the shore. "Well... here we are." Just past the beach was a small hill, with a small wooden hut sitting atop it. The hill was surrounded by trees on all angles aside from a path leading down to the beach, and there was a larger hill in view behind the hut. "...My home."

"...This is your home...?" May looked at Malbern, and things began to connect in her mind. "Ohh... this is the reason you came here to relax, hmm..? And, judging by the route the airships are taking, we should actually be completely fine hiding out here for a while... none of them should pass directly over this island, and even then, no one should be able to see us through the trees there..." May began to smile just a tad once again. "And now I'm curious what it's like in there. Come on."

Malbern hadn't had anyone aside from himself this close to his home in a long time. He felt a comforting warmth in his chest as he approached the hut, walking up the path and heading inside as May followed close behind him. Inside, the hut was nothing special. It wasn't furnished much, aside from a couch, a bed, and a small, isolated fireplace seemingly carved out of stone with nothing in it aside from ashes and embers. There were windows, too, resulting in a calming light pouring in from all angles around the building, along with a nice view of the trees and the ocean. "Feel free to look around... I think I might just lie here for a while... that attack you got on me still hurts, and dodging the urchins from that fish didn't help much..." Malbern flopped down onto the couch and closed his eyes. "Nor did cleaning them off... all that energy loss is starting to catch up to me..." He took a deep breath.

Meanwhile, May simply chuckled and pat him on the back. "It's okay. You can rest. You've done enough fighting for one day, I can assume..." As Malbern closed his eyes, May began to take a look around the hut. There wasn't really much that caught her eye, aside from the view of the ocean from the front windows, and a framed picture that was resting on one of the arms of the couch. She carefully picked it up. The glass had a small crack on the top right, and the picture seemed to have been water damaged to some extent, but she could still make out three cats, all Burmese. Looked like a happy family. She looked at Malbern, picking up all the implications she could from the picture. After holding back any emotions she might have felt, she looked outside to the large hill on the island. She saw a small opening, and, as with most cats, her curiosity got the better of her. She quietly opened the door, took one last peek at the napping Malbern, and shut the door, running off the path and through the trees.

Shaking the ground around the trees by walking seemed to loosen the coconuts growing on them. May then finally understood why the islands were called the Coconut Islands after narrowly avoiding one or two stray falling fruits that almost fell on her head and would have caused a nasty headache if not avoided in time. Unlike the hectic, frantic atmosphere of the grasslands Malbern had traveled, the island was fairly tranquil, especially so when it came to creatures. Not a single living creature aside from the trees and Malbern seemed to inhabit the island. Despite being peaceful, May took the silence the wrong way, as a feeling of dread washed over her. She never liked being in quiet places, as even from the alleyways of Hikari City, she could normally hear the bustling activity around her. Eventually, that tension reached a climax when she got to the hill she was after, along with the cave opening. It looked dark, and she could vaguely make out the figures of a few bats in the cave.

Bats weren't something May knew a whole lot about. In fact, she had never even seen a bat in person before. All she knew about them was that they could fly, and tended to be violent nuisances. She cautiously entered the mouth of the cave, and picked up a thick branch she found lying around in her mouth, subtly taking lessons from Malbern on item-wielding. She smacked the piece of wood against one of the cave walls, trying to awaken the bats to see how they'd react, and lo and behold, it worked. The bats immediately began trying to swarm her, and she backed away cautiously, prepared to fend them off with her stick, but then she noticed something. The light of the outside startled them, and caused them to go back to where they were resting. It was then that she got an idea, taking a match she hid behind her ear from when she was manning the cannons of Malbern's ship, striking it against the stick, and using it as a makeshift torch to explore the cave.

The cave was exceedingly dark, and filled to the brim with bats, but May held the makeshift torch up high to scare the bats back to where they came from. The cave didn't seem to have a whole lot in it, but there were occasional cracks and crevices in the floors and walls. May took this as a suggestion that there used to be resources there a long time ago, and Malbern just mined them out somehow to make a profit. Eventually, she reached an end to the cavern, and stumbled across some things that were expected, and some other things that were... not so much expected. She saw some treasure chests that definitely belonged to Malbern, and a desk with a small, unlit candle with a journal sitting beside it. She knew the journal probably belonged to Malbern, considering where it was, and she had a feeling he'd see it as rude to read it, but she couldn't help herself, nor her thief's instincts. She lit the candle with her torch, and set the torch away from any other wood that might get burned on accident, and began reading through Malbern's journal.

"Day 1 at sea. I looked all over the island for mom and dad, but I couldn't find them. Not even in the cave. I know they didn't sail away, because the ship is still here. Not only that, no one would have been able to sail in that storm last night. I wonder where they could have gone..."

"Day 2 at sea. Went to this place that was apparently called 'Ramal Town,' but I couldn't find them there. I also found some shiny gold coins, and wanted to take them for myself, but everyone started yelling at me and chasing me away. I don't understand why, I'm just doing what I need to do to survive... I at least still managed to keep a couple!"

She skipped ahead a couple pages.

"Day 9 at sea... where ARE they...? I've looked all over each of these islands, and all I've found was monkeys that just laugh at me and throw baseballs at me when I've done nothing to them..! I'm going home... I need to think..."

...Most of the journal was empty after that point, except for the final page, which had a small sketch of Malbern with his cutlass in his mouth and a hat that he didn't normally have. There were two vaguely cat-like figures behind him in the sketch. He looked happy in the image, but May could clearly tell through the jaggedness of the lines he was struggling to draw it. She sighed, and closed the journal, grabbing her torch and beginning to exit the cave.

Meanwhile, back at the hut, Malbern was still asleep in one of the most tranquil moods one could ever find him in. This tranquility couldn't last forever, though, as some waves began to crash against the shore loudly. Malbern slowly opened his eyes due to the ruckus, thinking May might have accidentally knocked over a tree somehow, but once he peeked outside, he didn't see May. Rather, he saw an unconscious Chartreux cat with medium gray fur lying face-first on the beach. Immediately, Malbern got worried about the fact that anything was washing up on his island in general, so he rushed up to see the unconscious cat. He had his cutlass on him, but he figured an awakening like that would be rather rude, so he picked up a brittle twig from the sand and lightly poked at the unconscious cat. "...'Ello? Y'aliv-"

Before he could even finish his statement, the cat shot awake, jumping up almost instantaneously like a startled child and crushing the twig beneath their paw. Both it and Malbern screamed in fear of one another, and Malbern jumped back Upon closer inspection of the cat's fur, there was also a lighter gray circle on his chest.

"_Who awakens me!? Who--_" The new cat looked around in a panic, their dull orange eyes darting around frantically before coming to rest upon Malbern, who was backing away. He hadn't even drawn his cutlass, but it looked very well like he was scared out of his wits. The cat slowly calmed down, as they looked into Malbern's eyes. "...Oh... pardon me, you don't look like you were trying to hurt me at all... though, the sheathed blade does make me a tad suspicious..." The cat narrowed their eyes and approached Malbern, who instinctively backed up.

"A-Aye, I'm sorry if I woke you rudely! I-I have a ship, I can take ye wherever ye need to be! Just d-don't hurt me!!" Malbern was just about to reach for his cutlass with his mouth, but the cat began laughing. They laughed so hard they had to curl up a little bit. Malbern's worried and scared expression slowly changed to one of gullible confusion.

"Oh my gosh, it's so easy to fool people when they're already fooling themselves... I have no intentions to hurt you! I'm sorry, that was a cruel joke on my part, but..." Their laughter slowly diminished to light chuckles. "..ohh, that was _rich..._" They let out a sigh in order to calm down. Malbern looked a little hurt by what just happened, but he was still too intimidated by the newcomer to speak out against them. "...I'm sorry, where are my manners...?" They spoke again, clearing their throat. "My name is Kattin. Pleasure to meet you. Your name is?" Kattin cocked his head to the side slightly.

There was a moment of distrusting silence for a while, before Malbern thought to himself, and realized... well, if May didn't trust him at first, but they get along just fine now, maybe it wouldn't be any different with Kattin. So, he took a deep breath and said; "Malbern. Captain Malbern, at your service. But, before we go anywhere, we have to get me friend, May." He slowly regained his usual smile. "I know she can't have gone far, since the ship's still here. Come. I have a feeling I... might know where she's gone." He beckoned for Kattin to follow with his tail, and without any sort of hesitation, Kattin followed after Malbern.

Over their journey to the hill's cave, Malbern began to realize just how agile and light on his feet Kattin was. He didn't have unnatural levels of agility, but he could swear not even May could move as precisely as Kattin. However, he saw nothing wrong with this, just seeing Kattin as an impressive cat that must have just spent a lot of time figuring out how to move quickly. Kattin seemed to be intently scanning his surroundings, curious about wherever it was that he had ended up. "So... where exactly am I? All I remember is blacking out, and then I supposedly washed up on this island..."

Malbern smiled at Kattin, eager to introduce him to their location. "You're on one of the southernmost islands in the Coconut Islands! Due to the fact that maps seem to only extend so far north or south, and primarily focus on east and west for some reason, this island remains almost entirely under the radar to a lot of people. Nyarr, I'd even bet that even the tin cans don't know this place exists!" Malbern let out one of his signature hearty laughs, and Kattin chuckled along with him. Since the islands was uncharted, yet someone actually lived on it, Kattin figured there was likely nothing to fear.

"I see... well, it certainly must be interesting living on territory that isn't even recognized on any sort of map." Kattin nodded as he spoke and walked, still taking in the scenery around him. After a bit more walking, they could see the large hill looming over them in the distance. Kattin narrowed his eyes, spotting the cave entrance near the top of the hill. "I assume that's where your friend is... it's somewhat easy to tell. Where else would you go when playing hide and seek on an island?" Kattin chuckled at his somewhat sarcastic comment. Malbern laughed as well, but the closer they got to the cave, the more his cheerful demeanor seemed to wither away.

Eventually, they made their way to the cave, and Malbern sighed. "This place... still gives me the shivers. It's infested with bats, but judging by the trail of embers 'ere..." Malbern pawed at some ashes and embers that May's makeshift torch left behind. "She probably went through here." He sighed, because deep down, he knew what she would have found at the bottom of that cave. "Keep yer guard up, the bats aren't friendly." Malbern drew his cutlass. Kattin just nodded, and followed Malbern down the cave.

During their trek down the cave towards May, Malbern noticed something else strange about Kattin. His glare seemed to be enough to simply intimidate the bats into going back to their resting spots instead of attacking them. However, he didn't think too much of this, either. It made sense to him, considering how they first met. Malbern was sure Kattin would have killed him if he got any closer, and yet here they were together, looking for someone in a deep, dark cave. Malbern just saw it as a useful ability that comes from being intimidating. Eventually, the two of them reached just about the halfway point, and saw May taking her leisurely time walking out of the cave with her torch.

May looked up, and set the torch down against a nearby wall so she could actually speak. "Oh, hey, Mal-..." She noticed Kattin behind Malbern. She cocked her head slightly and looked at Kattin silently. They stared at one another for a brief moment, and Kattin looked just as confused at their little staring contest. May felt like she saw Kattin somewhere before, but she couldn't quite put her paw on where. After a couple more seconds, she decided she was probably just being superstitious, and shook her head. Malbern laughed quietly, batting at May playfully.

"What's the matter?" Malbern smirked a little bit, trying to disregard what May likely found. "Curious about our new friend 'ere?" His tail gestured towards Kattin, who just smiled and politely bowed. "His name is..." He looked down, before leaning closer to Kattin and whispering; "Kattin, right?" In response to which Kattin nodded. Malbern looked back up at May, grinning again. "Kattin! Kattin, this is May. Ye two get your introductions out of the way, and I'll meet up with ye by the ship!" Malbern sprinted out of the cave quick enough to avoid being caught by any of the bats lurking in the darkness.

Things were silent for a few moments as the two watched Malbern sprint off, before May slowly approached Kattin. "Kattin, huh...? Interesting name." She commented, narrowing her eyes slightly. Something about Kattin still struck her as odd, and she couldn't get that feeling out of the back of her mind no matter how hard she tried. "I don't think any further introduction here is necessary, especially considering my torch is almost burnt out and the bats are going to come for us the moment the flame dies, so we should probably met up with Malbern at the ship now." May began to sprint after Malbern.

"Correct, that is likely the best course of action to be taken right now..." Kattin simply nodded, and followed after May at a standard walking pace. He didn't seem to be afraid of the bats at all due to his natural ability to somehow intimidate them. However, due to his naturally fast walk, he caught up with the others in no time.

The smell of the ocean and sounds of woodwork filled the air, as Malbern was busy fixing up a couple holes and scratches made in the deck of his ship from urchin strikes. After catching his breath, he peeked over the deck of the ship to see May sitting on the beach and looking up at the ship, and Kattin briskly walking down the path. "Nyar, are we ready to set sail?" He regained his lighthearted smile as he looked down at May smiling back up at him.

"You know it, 'cap'." She couldn't help but laugh at her own joking nickname for him, jumping up onto the anchor chain and climbing up it to reach the deck of the ship and jump on, landing beside Malbern. Kattin followed suit, albeit more carefully climbing up and not jumping. Kattin walked over to the other side of the deck, staring out at the horizon between the sea and the sky. Malbern walked up behind him, and also looked out into the distance.

"...I know waking up in a place that's unfamiliar to ye is probably scary, but don't worry. As long as ye're not goin' to Ramal Town, I can take ye where ye need to be." Malbern was still smiling, although there was a bit more of a comforting tone to his voice.

"I'm not scared, Malbern." Kattin sighed. "It's just... I'm not used to being around other cats. Or people at all, really. Hence why my introduction to you was a bit harsher than it needed to be. I don't perform well around others in the slightest. But I don't quite have a choice, do I..?" He chuckled. "I'll need you to take me to Guldburg. I know the way there, and all you'll have to do is pilot the ship following my directions, okay?" Kattin patted Malbern on the back twice, before moving away and walking up the steps to the ship's stern, right beside the wheel and getting ready to guide Malbern, who followed him up to the wheel.

And so, the three took off. May raised the anchor so Malbern wouldn't have to get away from the wheel, lying down and staring out into the distant ocean to relax afterwards. Kattin began giving directions to Malbern, who sailed the trio onward through the ocean, hoping to find some sort of river to intercept the mountainous terrain near Guldburg. However, one thing they weren't counting on was the fact that they were heading east, so eventually, their path intercepted with a few tin army airships flying high above them. Malbern and May looked up at the sky as they ended up passing under a massive shadow, and the two of them immediately felt dread. This was the last thing the both of them wanted with a passenger on board, and lo and behold, one of the ships broke formation, lowering down and beginning to pursue them.

Malbern snarled, getting away from the ship's wheel. "Kattin, you'll need to take the wheel for a while. Don't worry too much, just keep us en route to Guldburg, and try not to crash the ship. The wheel does exactly what you think it does, turns the ship." May was already rushing up to the duo, her scarf waving elegantly in the wind as the tin ship descended upon them.

"Malbern, we're about to be boarded-"

"I know full well that we're about to be boarded, thank you very much! Battle stations, May! Don't bother with the cannons, that airship's going to fly too high up to be attacked directly by our ship's weaponry! We're going to have to fight their crew head on!" Malbern drew his cutlass, and jumped down to the main deck, gazing up at the airship as it leveled out in the air right on the ship's port side. May then looked up at the wooden mast of their ship, and had an idea.

"Malbern! Hold them off to the best of your ability, and try to clump them up in a group! Once they're grouped up, I'll jump down from the mast and slice them all in the back! We should be just fine!" May and Malbern stared at each other for a second, before the both of them nodded, and got ready to fight. The first wave of tin soldiers jumped down. A good chunk of them were standard walkers, though some of them bounced around on springs. Malbern started out up close and personal to the tin soldiers, swatting and slashing at them with his cutlass, before slowly backing away, trying to bait them closer to the mast. Once they were really beginning to close in on him, he performed a spinning sweep to knock them back slightly and give May the signal to jump down and strike them. When she jumped down, she struck quickly and without mercy, tearing through the tin soldiers from behind and knocking them all off the deck of the ship into the water. However, they knew it wasn't over yet, so Malbern let May climb on his back to jump back onto the mast and cling onto it, preparing for the second wave.

Tin soldiers dropped down in larger numbers, and more and more of them had the ability to hop around Malbern and attempt to strike him from behind, taking a page out of May's strategy. Thankfully, Malbern had the hook on the end of his tail to catch any tin soldier that tried to be sneaky with their attacks, but the plan began to fall apart a little bit when small soldiers with tank treads and spikes attached to them began to emerge. The spiked plating rendered Malbern's cutlass less effective, by stopping it before it could make contact with the main body. Malbern was forced to back away a bit sooner than usual, and by the time he was up against the mast, tin soldiers were still dropping down from the airship. May had to act fast, so she jumped down and started ambushing and striking at tin soldiers early, focusing on any of them with spikes. However, due to being forced into action early, she was left vulnerable, and would have been struck by a jumping soldier if not for a last second save from Malbern, striking it away from her with his cutlass. He silently urged her back to the mast so she could climb up and ambush the wave of tin soldiers again to finish them off, considering they finally stopped jumping onto the ship. May followed orders once again, and after a few more quick strikes, it seemed like the last of the tins were done for.

However, that wasn't actually the case, as a massive spring-powered jumper with four spikes on the lower half of the front of its body jumped down, landing on the ship and causing a quake strong enough to knock May and Malbern off balance for a moment. Malbern knew that just a couple pokes in the back wouldn't be enough to knock down a titan like that, so he had to think of another strategy... and then he remembered one crucial detail about the cannons on the lower deck; they weren't fastened down completely. They could be rolled around if the need were to arise, and the time for that need to arise was that exact moment. Malbern charged for the 'Spring Titan,' as he dubbed it in his mind, and faked reeling back to strike. This caused it to jump, and attempt to slam down on him. However, it would be disappointed to learn that Malbern took off past it, slowing down right before it landed to avoid tripping and falling face-first. He then promptly ran below deck, and seeing this, May ended up confused and frustrated.

"Malbern, what on Earth are you doing!? Are you trying to run-!?" The giant tin soldier jumped again, and May ran to climb up the mast, but the quake was strong enough to knock her off. She fell off the mast, and landed right in front of the tin soldier, looking up at it with fear in her eyes. She took notice that Malbern managed to stand his ground when he slowed down, so she darted past it and slowed herself down in order to keep her footing when it inevitably jumped and almost landed on her in the middle of her sprint. "F-Fine, if you wanna be like that, I'll figure something out myself!" She hissed, and in all honesty to herself, she knew she had no idea what she was doing, nor what she was even planning to do. All she could do was dodge, and wait for an opening. She was thinking, maybe if the floor beneath it shattered from too many repeated jumps, it might be left vulnerable, despite the inevitable damage to the ship that would cause. It was the best idea she could come up with, though, so she kept attempting to bait it to jump in the same two spots repeatedly, making her best effort to not move too fast and accidentally end up tripping herself on one of the tremors caused by each landing. She thought she was doing fine, until she heard loud slamming noises that weren't coming from each one of the tin soldier's landings.

Once she brought herself to look at the source of the noise, she spotted Malbern wheeling one of the lower deck's cannons up to the main deck. However, the stairs very clearly weren't optimized for this, and setting up the cannon was definitely going to take him some time. It was then that she realized Malbern _did_ have a plan all along, he just couldn't tell her due to the fact he had his cutlass in his mouth. She then very quickly switched objectives, and made a mental note to herself to stop being so distrusting of Malbern. Her new goal was just to distract the tin soldier long enough for Malbern to set up the cannon, and trick the tin soldier into landing in firing range after that was done. However, she ended up a little distracted from dodging in formulating her new plan, so the tin soldier ended up stomping the very tip of her tail. She practically screeched, trying to shove it off of her to the best of her ability. However, that didn't work, and it jumped again, trying to stomp her to finish her off. She just barely scrambled out of the way in time. This made the tin soldier furious, and it began to jump higher and with less time between jumps, trying its best to stomp May out of existence. After what felt like a couple minutes of barely evading defeat at the hands of the giant soldier, she noticed Malbern sheathing his sword and beginning to aim the cannon. He struck a match, and May got in front of the cannon's range, narrowing her eyes at the tin soldier as it jumped for her. And then, it heard her cry out:

"_Sayonara!_"

Before it could even realize what was going on, May had ran right under it, and it heard the blast of the cannon. The cannonball smacked right into the tin soldier, and sent it flying right up towards the side of the airship. The tin soldier and the cannonball smacked right into the side of the airship, causing a significant dent along with something that sounded almost like a detonation of some kind. After that sort of retaliation, the smoking airship retreated, flying back up into the air to likely try to meet back up with its fleet. May and Malbern laughed triumphantly, jumping happily for the victory they had just achieved together.

"That was _amazing,_ Malbern! I shouldn't have doubted you!" May let out a sigh, calming herself down quickly. She wasn't used to being that happy, especially not in front of other cats. Malbern was still chuckling.

"The captain _always _has a plan, May! I wouldn't just run away and abandon a friend to fight a massive metal monster! We're a crew, after all, aren't we?" He smiled, before rushing back up to the stern to re-take the wheel from Kattin, who was surprisingly safe and sound during all this. After a few more rounds of congratulating each other on their work against an entire tin airship, the trio continued to set sail for Guldburg, heading down a river that even Malbern wasn't quite familiar with.


	3. Friend or Foe

The trio of cats was still cruising down the river after several minutes of nothing being particularly eventful. May was calmly and silently sitting at the bow of the ship, looking out at the river's forward progression as her scarf waved in the passing breeze. Malbern, despite having to pilot a large wooden ship down a rapidly flowing river, seemed to be just as calm as May. Kattin was looking up and staring into space idly, figuring no more directions towards Guldburg would be necessary if they were cruising down a river. May closed her eyes for just a couple seconds... before jolting awake and clinging to the wood beneath her as the ship abruptly stopped, as if it crashed into something. Malbern just barely clung onto the wheel with his mouth to keep balance, and Kattin barely even flinched, despite seemingly being the most distracted of the three.

"What was that!?" Malbern shouted, rushing over to make sure May was okay, helping her up and letting her lean against him for a couple seconds to keep her balance. As Kattin walked up beside them, they noticed that the river they were sailing down had frozen over about halfway to their destination, and the ship got itself lodged in the sheet of ice. Malbern looked down at the ice, groaning and jumping off the ship, barely managing to land on the riverbank. "Great. Jus' great. Now me ship's stuck, and we've gotta get ye to Guldburg on foot... which way do ye reckon it is from here?"

Kattin sighed, as if he had a feeling it would come to something like this. "It's a long walk, but if we head northeast, we should eventually come across a path that'll lead us back around to Guldburg. Don't worry, it isn't too dangerous around here... minus the killer snowmen and snowball cannons that were left active and lying around here for some reason." Kattin immediately began walking northeast, leaving the river behind. May and Malbern followed him, though May had a bit of a skeptical look on her face. She didn't know where they were, either, but if Kattin was really going to Guldburg, she thought he'd know a direct path rather than one that had them looping around.

Their travels led them past many interesting sights. The aforementioned killer snowmen and snowball cannons were plentiful, and within deep pits of snow, Malbern could swear he saw some yetis trudging along. It didn't take too long before they were climbing up snowy mountains and taking shortcuts through icy caves in an attempt to reach their destination faster. However, May abruptly stopped, looking back and flicking her tail. "Wait." She held up one paw to the others, trying to signal them to stop. Malbern stopped on a dime, but Kattin kept going for a few seconds before noticing the other two had stopped, turning to look at the two of them. He stopped to ask, "what are we stopping for-"

"Shhhh." May shushed him, her ears twitching. As the trio remained there silently for a while, they began to pick up on quiet rustling in a set of bushes surrounded a tree. "You two hear that, right..?" May swiped her tail to signal the two to follow, slowly and quietly sneaking up to the bushes. The both of them followed, although Kattin didn't seem to care much for being sneaky, walking behind them and crunching some leaves beneath his paws without even seeming to notice or care. May just rolled her eyes and groaned quietly at Kattin's lack of care, before the rustling in the bushes became more and more frequent. Malbern was preparing to reach for his cutlass, and May lowered herself down to reduce her profile, before... a Bengal cat with a yellow flower behind their right ear peeked their head out of one of the bushes to the right of the tree, not noticing them yet. They stepped out of the bushes, carrying a basket of assorted plants and berries in their mouth, and turned around the tree, finally spotting the trio. They stared at the three for a while, before cautiously setting their basket down and clearing their throat.

"Ahem... um... excuse me, how long have you three been here? Were you watching me?" They tilted their head, confused. "I don't see what the point in doing that would be, I mean, picking wild berries isn't exactly the most interesting thing to watch, ahaha..." They chuckled awkwardly, pawing the basket and pushing it a bit further behind themselves.

"Sorry, we didn't mean to disturb ye." Malbern chuckled. "We were just on our way to Guldburg, and we heard ye rustling the bushes. This cold region has been dangerous enough as is, so we wanted to investigate to make sure ye weren't anythin' out to get us." Malbern bowed apologetically. Normally, he'd be trying to do his usual pirate schtick, but remembering what happened far in the past with Ramal Town, he didn't want to alert Kattin into telling another town about his constant scheming.

"Oh!" The cat's ears perked up enthusiastically. "You're going to Guldburg? I could tag along! I know my way around these parts well enough, and I have some crops to sell, so it wouldn't hurt to make a quick stop there! Would you mind if I grouped up with you guys? I'll try not to be too much of a nuisance..!" The gave an innocent, almost heartwarming smile. Malbern silently turned to the others with a questioning look, wanting their opinions before accepting a total stranger into their party by request.

The three looked at each other, silently thinking on it for a while before May spoke up. "I don't think it'd hurt to let an innocent traveler tag along... also, their voice reminds me that I'm the only girl in this group, and a change of pace from that might be nice."

"Yeah, sure, they can tag along." Kattin gave his input after May finished speaking. "But I still know where we're going. This is the least dangerous route I could think of that was also fast. Let's just get to Guldburg." Kattin and May looked back up at the cat, and Malbern nodded.

"Alrighty, lass, after speaking to my crew, ye're allowed to tag along until we reach Guldburg!" Malbern brightly smiled, like usual. "The name's Captain Malbern, at yer service! This 'ere is May and Kattin!" He gestured to the other two. May subtly waved, and Kattin simply nodded.

"Great! The name's Engali, by the way!" She bounced up and down in place out of sheer enthusiasm, before spotting Malbern's sheath being bound to his body by a leather ring going around him, and had an idea, looking at her basket. "Ooohhh... give me a second! You three can go ahead for a bit, I'll catch up!" The trio collectively nodded, and continued northeast. Engali went back into the bushes, fumbling through her basket for a bit before pulling out a few vines and other plant fibers. She tied them together, and then tied the resulting rope around the handle of her basket, before fastening the rope around her in a similar fashion to Malbern's 'belt'. Once she was done with that, she carefully stepped out of the bushes and rushed northeast to catch up with the trio, who hadn't gone too far.

So, they continued trekking to who-knows-where, everyone placing their trust into Kattin that they'd find their way to the path he was talking about that led to Guldburg. Along the way, Engali slowed down to pick some berries and fruits and such to put them in her basket, which didn't seem to weigh her down too much at all. Along the way, she tried to strike up conversation with the others.

"So... where are you guys from? I've heard there's no place quite like these snowy mountains."

"Well, I'm from the Coconut Islands, May's from Hikari City, and Kattin is from... where are you from, actually, Kattin?" Malbern looked at Kattin with a curious glint in his eyes.

"Where I'm from is none of your concern. Even if I told you, you probably wouldn't have even heard of it before." Kattin rolled his eyes, still trying to remain as distant as possible.

"Aye... fair enough." Malbern sighed, continuing forward at a slightly faster pace. The density of trees around them was getting lower and lower, until eventually, they appeared to be reaching a clearing. In fact, there was a massive area ahead of them where a good chunk of trees were outright cut down. Malbern, May, and Engali looked a bit concerned, but Kattin barely batted an eye, continuing forwards.

May climbed up on one of the stumps, sitting down and taking a quick look around. "...Well, at least we know for a fact that civilization is nearby, so we can't be too far from Guldburg... and nothing dangerous seems to inhabit this snowy field, but... why is there such a big clearing here?" She looked around, unsure why any size of town would need that much wood.

Kattin stopped, and turned to look at the others. "Some things just never end up explained. Now, if we're going to set up camp somewhere, the top of that hill is looking like a good place. We can gather some of the wood that's left lying around here, start a fire, and rest for a brief moment before finally getting on the path to Guldburg. Come on." Kattin turned around again, continuing to head up towards the hill. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a mine of some sort with a locked door and a few cats gathering at said door along with some other armored individual. Once again, they figured it would be for the best if they payed no mind to the presence of the other group, as it looked like they were busy. After a few seconds of idly sitting around and taking in the view of the clearing, the trio began to follow Kattin up the hill. Engali decided to take responsibility for gathering up wood, so she picked up whatever pieces she could find that weren't wet from the snow, putting them in her basket with everything else and hoping they wouldn't get anything too dirty. May and Malbern set up some stones in a circle for the area around the fire, clearing the snow away from that spot, and Kattin rolled up some logs for them to sit on or against. May, Malbern and Engali ended up sitting together, with Kattin directly opposite of them.

"Well, you three certainly are an interesting group..!" Engali chuckled. "I'm almost curious how you three came to be a party... and, well, we are sitting around a campfire, aren't we? Isn't this the sort of situation where people share stories?" She gazed down at the fire. She wasn't quite afraid of fire, but something about it intimidated her slightly. Likely its ability to burn the plants she worked with.

"Oh, well that tale's a short, but very, very eventful one. If I described everything, we'd be here a while, but I can give ye some basic details if ye'd like!" Malbern turned his head to look at Engali and smiled.

"Well, we've got nothing else to do, right? Might as well try to do something to pass the time, especially considering we have almost all the time in the world... nothing super important is happening right now, to my knowledge." Engali shrugged, her tail beginning to flick back and forth due to anticipation of Malbern's tale.

Malbern closed his eyes and lied down, stretching out and getting comfortable before re-telling his story up to that current moment. "Nyarr... well... it all started when I was sailing down a river, lookin' for lost gold. I saw some airships flyin' overhead, and one of 'em crashed into a hill. Curious, I went over to investigate, findin' naught but an army of tin soldiers after me head! After runnin' for what felt like hours, I ended up in the back alleys of Hikari City, 'n that's where I found me first crewmate, May." He opened one eye to check on May, who was also lying down comfortably at that point. "Anyway," Malbern continued, "we fought, 'cause I knew she had gold on 'er, but she was such a good fighter that I figured that talent shouldn't go to waste! We were then officially a crew, and we thought that a crew would be able to take on anythin', so that's when we set our sights on those tin cans. Things happened, we fought a legendary fish, I took 'er to my home so we could rest, Kattin 'ere washed up on the island needing to head to Guldburg, and... well, here we are." He opened his eyes to look at Engali, and she looked... dreadfully overwhelmed, despite Malbern simplifying things to the best of his ability.

"...Bah, does it really matter how we got here? We're a crew now, 'n that's what matters!" Malbern gave off his usual hearty laugh, before slowly losing that joyful tone. "...For now, at least... I just remembered, ye two are departin' when we get to Guldburg..." He sighed, looking between Kattin and Engali. "Ye two make good company, though, and I wish for luck to shine in yer favor." He slowly regained his smile, and Engali chuckled.

"How sweet of you..! I'll be sure to remember your face, Malbern!" Engali giggled. "If you ever find a cabin with a garden around it surrounded by trees near the frozen river, feel free to pay a visit! I'm usually somewhere around there." She let out a content sigh, and returned to relaxing. The three were about to relax, before they heard the screeching of some sort of alarm system coming from the mines below them. They all slowly got up, and Kattin jumped off his log, looking around, then down at the ground.

May snarled out of frustration, looking around. "What is causing that ungodly racket...?" She kept looking around, as Kattin headed towards the back of the hills.

"...Oh, guys, look at that." Kattin pointed forwards with his tail, and the others soon walked up to his side. They saw that group of cats from earlier, except slightly different, fleeing out of a hole in the back of the mines on the back of a dragon. Right as they saw this, the ground began to shake, violent tremors ripping through the cave system beneath them like a massive explosion was just going off.

Malbern backed up, barely keeping his balance. "The ground's getting unstable! Everyone, run!!" He began to make a run back past the camp, and the others followed him. Kattin actually broke into a sprint for once, and his speed was outright unnatural in comparison to all the other cats beside him. However, a crack opened up just ahead of Malbern and the ground began to descend, causing him and the others to trip. Chunks of the ground broke open, falling down into a massive cavern beneath them. Kattin couldn't react fast enough, and ended up falling on one of the descending chunks of ground and ramming face first into the wall, hissing in pain and falling back off the piece of ground the other cats were on.

"_Kattin-!?_" Malbern shouted, reaching his paw out to him and trying to catch him before he fell, but alas, it was no use. And it was that hesitation that gave them no hope of getting back up onto stable ground, as the chunk they were standing on broke off and fell into the newly-formed pit. The trio looked around, trying to spot anywhere they could jump to. The cavern they were falling to had a ring-like layout, with a drop taking up most of the area of the cave that would likely kill them if they fell all the way down. There were thin edges they could walk on though, so they waited for their moment, before collectively jumping off their piece of ground and landing on the stable, stone floor of the cave.

Looking around the cave, it was lit up from one side by seemingly the same exit the last group of cats took. There were stones and stalactites falling from the roof of the cave, likely from leftover damage of whatever just happened to blow up such a huge portion of the mines. Sharp crystal shards had fallen all over the place, making simple movement dangerous if one wasn't careful. Engali slowly backed away from the edge, scared of accidentally slipping and falling down the drop. May began to proceed onward, carefully walking along the right edge of the ring to reach the exit on the other side. Malbern stood his ground for a few moments longer, looking around before seeing Kattin lying face-first on top of a tall formation of stone on the left half of the ring.

"Kattin-!!" Malbern called out again, rushing over to the stone formation, being careful with each step he took and climbing around crystal shards when necessary. However, it was then that he noticed something off about Kattin for the third time; smoke was emerging from his body. Primarily, his joints. However, from that angle, it looked like there might have just been a fire beneath him. "Oy! Kattin! Get up!!" Malbern unsheathed his cutlass, about to grapple up with an attached rope to get to Kattin himself, and May stopped dead in her tracks, looking up at Kattin. She narrowed her eyes, and stared as Kattin slowly got up. His eyes were a brighter orange than usual, with the same piercing stare that May described back at the windy river. His body looked like it was also glitching, duplicating itself to the left and right and distorting, as if Kattin's body was a projection. May's heart sank, and she immediately began rushing for the exit with all the speed she could muster. However, before she could even get close, Kattin suddenly boosted through the air, lunging straight for May across the entire chasm with embers drifting up off of his still-distorting back. He managed to tackle May full-force, ramming her into the wall and knocking her unconscious. His claws tore her scarf up in the process, resulting in a bunch of holes and the end becoming much more ragged. Afterwards, the figure turned to look at Engali. Malbern, afraid and confused, rushed back to Engali's side, prepared to draw his cutlass.

"So... the facade's up." Kattin levitated in a bipedal stance over the chasm to the remaining two cats. Engali cowered behind Malbern, afraid for her life as Malbern got into a defensive stance, preparing to draw his cutlass and face Kattin head on. "I should have known it wouldn't have lasted forever... though, I will admit. You were easy to fool, Malbern. Too easy to fool for your own good." Kattin grinned.

"What?" Malbern shot Kattin a harsh glare. "What's that s'pposed to mean-" His eyes widened, and everything began connecting. The piercing orange eyes... cat-like figure... the way he acted so distant, and led them away from Guldburg, crashing his ship in the process. He began putting the puzzle pieces together, and figured out that Kattin was actually an anagram. Malbern shuddered, glaring up at Kattin as the disguise began to fade.

Kattin's ears abruptly angled forward, and his whiskers curled in an upwards curve. Flames bursted out from Kattin's joints, as the disguise finally gave in due to damage from the fall. His ears transformed into horns, the empty space in his whiskers filled in to resemble sharp fins on the side of his head, and the circle on his chest revealed a built-in plasma cannon. The embers drifting off of Kattin's back revealed a built in jet booster on his back, along with smaller ones hidden in his legs. His entire color scheme changed, too, swapping to mechanical light gray with orange markings. "Looks like you've finally figured it out for yourself, Malbern." It landed, and the now-duo of cats backed up. "The true name that was given to me is Tinkat... and I was told to eliminate any cats that I met. You three must have just been very unlucky to have crossed me at that river..." It chuckled, stepping towards the two. Malbern drew his cutlass, ready to protect himself and Engali. Tinkat struck down at his cutlass with its claws with enough force to make Malbern recoil, and it was at that point that Engali began running along the right edge of the cavern, thinking Tinkat was distracted. However, it wasn't. It immediately began dashing for her, and as much as Malbern wanted to save her, it was every cat for themselves at that point.

Engali definitely wasn't used to having to actively dodge attacks of any sort, especially not those of a tin monster like Tinkat. In a span of less than minutes, she was overwhelmed by it jumping down at her from stone platforms clinging to the walls of the cavern, firing plasma bolts out of its chest, and dashing at her at lightning-quick speeds. She was inevitably struck in the back, and Tinkat lifted her up in one set of claws, tossing her over to May's side. However, unlike May, she still managed to retain some sort of consciousness. Her basket was practically emptied out, but she still started digging through for anything she could use to heal May, finding a few fruits that had minor healing properties, and more plant fibers to wrap around any wounds she ended up getting.

Malbern was doing his best to move through the other side of the cavern as quickly as possible before Tinkat could catch him, rushing for the exit with everything he had. Using the hook on his tail, he could swing around stalagmites to keep his momentum going and gain some in the process, and if need be, he could use his makeshift grappling hook to swing across patches of shattered crystal, considering he wasn't very good at jumping and climbing the stone platforms that littered the walls. He was getting better at tugging his cutlass out of the walls without climbing all the way up to it, too. The exit was in sight, but then he could barely catch the sounds of Tinkat's jets revving up behind him. He just barely managed to jump and cling to one of the stone platforms in time, climbing up and watching as Tinkat turned in the air, looping back around and trying to shoot at him with more beams from his chest. He swiped one of the beams away with his cutlass, before running away from the rest and making one final leap for the exit, trying to use his cutlass to grapple out. It latched onto the ceiling, and he was about to escape the caves, but he was mere seconds too late. Engali could only watch as Tinkat tackled Malbern in the air with enough force to not only rip him away from the rope he was gripping on to, but pull on the rope hard enough to get his cutlass out of the ceiling. It clattered onto the floor, and Tinkat held Malbern by a tuft of fur on his chest with one set of claws.

Tinkat flew upwards and out of the cave quickly, carrying Malbern up and away. Not too long afterwards, they were going straight through a layer of clouds and above them. Yet, Tinkat kept going higher, staring Malbern in the eyes. "I'm sorry, my friend. But no cat can be left alive if they know what I am without my disguise." Malbern snarled, trying to struggle out of Tinkat's grip and trying to dig his claws into the limb Tinkat was using to hold him.

"If we _were_ 'friends'..." Malbern hissed in pain, as it felt like the fur on his chest was being torn. "...ye wouldn't be doing this..." Malbern looked down at the clouds beneath him, almost entirely sure he wouldn't be able to survive a fall from the height he was at, before looking back up at Tinkat.

The two stared at each other, trading hostile glares with one another for a few seconds, before Tinkat stopped ascending in the air, levitating in one spot. "...This will be goodbye." It let go of Malbern, letting him plummet. As he fell, they still looked each other in the eyes. Malbern disappeared through one layer of clouds, and Tinkat thought for sure he was done for, speeding off through the air to find a spot to re-charge its disguise.

_To be continued..._


End file.
